Meaning-making in science is highly multimodal, involving, e.g., writing, speech, gestures, visual representations, and actions with artefacts. Integrating these resources into a coherent whole can be challenging for students. However, if the resources are used functionally, the multimodal practices can support meaning-making, not least for emergent multilinguals learning the language of instruction alongside the content. This study draws on social semiotic perspectives of multimodality, positing that different resources and their combinations have different affordances. The study aims to contribute knowledge about how resources can be orchestrated in ways that may support emergent multilingual students’ meaning-making in science. Data consist of video and audio recordings of a teacher’s instruction for sowing seeds in a grade 4 (10–11 years) biology classroom. The teacher’s multimodal orchestration was analysed using tools from systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to answer the research question What possibilities and limitations have the teacher’s multimodal orchestration in terms of supporting students with limited access to the language of instruction. The result of the analysis reveals that while the resources were often combined in ways that enhance the information given, some sequences were potentially challenging for emergent multilinguals, particularly when essential parts of the instruction were given through a single mode, and in particular when speech appeared to be crucial for making meaning of the instruction.

This article presents an in-depth analysis of the Swedish data from the international VASI-E (Views about Scientific Inquiry – Elementary) study. The purpose is to contribute to further knowledge on what younger students know about scientific inquiry (SI). Data were collected by using the VASI-E instrument and were administered to 110 students in the 3rd grade. Furthermore, 24 students were interviewed in order to obtain a deepened qualitative understanding of the students’ views about SI. As already shown in the international VASI-E study, the majority of the students did not have an adequate understanding of SI. Many students seem to embrace a view of SI as following a unique ‘scientific method’, sometimes described as ‘doing experiments’, often in combination with the posing of hypotheses. Furthermore, several students seemed to be unaware of the central role of posing questions as the first step of conducting SI. According to several students, a scientist is a person who should know answers rather than pose questions. A possible reason for this obscured view of SI is the focus on conducting scientific investigations rather than on understanding the different aspects of SI in their teaching. Methodological aspects of the VASI-E instrument are also discussed.

Knowledge of scientific inquiry (SI) is considered essential to the development of an individual's Scientific Literacy (SL) and therefore, SI is included in many international science education reform documents. Two previous large scale international studies assessed the SI understandings of students entering middle school and secondary students at the end of their formal K-12 science education. The purpose of this international project was to use the VASI-E to collect data on what primary level students have learned about SI in their first few years of school. This study adds to previous research to bridge the landscape of SI understandings now with representation from primary, middle and high school samples. A total of 4,238 students from 35 countries/regions spanning six continents participated in the study. The results show that globally, primary students are not adequately informed about SI for their age group. However, when compared with the students in the previous international studies (grades seven and 12), the primary students' understandings were surprisingly closer to the levels of understanding of SI of the secondary school students than those in the seventh grade study.

I denna studie undersöks tvåspråkiga elevers meningsskapande i naturvetenskap. En återkommande slutsats från tidigare studier är att tvåspråkiga elevers modersmål bör inkluderas i naturvetenskapsundervisningen. De flesta av dessa är dock från länder där lärare och elever talar samma modersmål. I Sverige är klasserna istället ofta mångspråkiga med flera olika modersmål i en och samma klass. Det är därför relevant att studera hur elevers modersmål kan inkluderas i naturvetenskapsundervisningen i en mångspråkig kontext. Data samlades in genom klassrumsobservationer i en årskurs 3 där eleverna arbetade med elektricitet. Två olika förändringar genomfördes i undervisningen: a) eleverna tilläts prata sina modersmål under lektioner i naturvetenskap och b) elever med samma modersmål fick arbeta tillsammans vid gruppaktiviteter. Data analyserades utifrån ett pragmatiskt perspektiv på meningsskapande och teorin om transpråkande. Resultatet visar dels att när eleverna fick möjligheten använde de alltid båda sina språk för att skapa mening i naturvetenskap, och dels en markant minskning av språkliga begräsningar vid gruppaktiviteterna. Under helklassundervisningen på svenska kunde eleverna delta i kortare meningsutbyten, men hade svårare att delta i mer avancerade samtal såsom diskussioner och generaliseringar jämför med när de hade möjlighet att använda hela sin språkliga repertoar. Detta är problematiskt eftersom dessa typer av samtal är nödvändiga för att elever ska utveckla en djupare förståelse av naturvetenskap. Studien visar således på möjliga sätt att öka elever lärande i naturvetenskap i en mångspråkig kontext genom strategier för att inkludera elevers modersmål i undervisningen.

Increasing diversity in European schools pushes focus on education for bilingual pupils (Eurydice, 2019). A study guidance session is a resource to support bilingual pupils in different school subject. The aim of this study is to investigate how meaning making strategies are applied during a science study guidance session through text reading. The theoretical perspective of the research is based on both sociocultural theory regarding meaning-making and on translanguaging theory. Data was collected through the observation of a science study guidance session, where a 9th grade bilingual pupil and a study guidance teacher read a text. A narrative analysis is used in order to describe how meaning making strategies were employed. Preliminary results show a number of meaning making strategies used to support the pupil´s meaning making of scientific context in both minority and majority languages. However, there are also some challenges observed with regards to the use of scientific terms in the pupil´s minority language. 

This article concerns how teachers can use physical artefacts as mediating means to support emergent bilingual students’ learning in science class. The data consist of non-participant observations in a Swedish 3^rd grade (9-10 years old) science class. All students were bilingual, but in different minority languages, and the teacher was monolingual in Swedish. The study focused on four students, all of whom had Turkish as their minority language. During the observations, the science content was electricity and the lessons were conducted by using physical artefacts, such as wires, bulbs and batteries. The study takes its stance in the ideas of Dewey and sociocultural approaches, implying that students’ learning is viewed as situational. For the analysis, practical epistemology analysis (PEA) was used. The teacher used physical artefacts in two different ways. First, the physical artefacts implied that the students experienced the science content by actually seeing it. The students talked about their observations in everyday language, which the teacher then drew on to introduce how the phenomena or process in question could be expressed in scientific language. Second, when students’ proficiency in the language of instruction limited their possibilities to make meaning, using physical artefacts enabled them to experience unfamiliar words being related to the science content and thus learn their meaning. The study findings contribute to knowledge concerning how teachers can create learning contexts where physical artefacts are used to mediate scientific meaning. 

This article examines how emergent bilingual students used gestures in science class, and the consequences of students’ gestures when their language repertoire limited their possibilities to express themselves. The study derived from observations in two science classes in Sweden. In the first class, 3rd grade students (9–10 years old) were involved in a unit concerning electricity. The second class consisted of 7th grade students (13–14 years old) working with acids and bases. Data were analyzed by using practical epistemological analysis (PEA). When students’ language proficiency limited their possibility to express themselves, using gestures resulted in the continuation of the science activities. Furthermore, both peers and teachers drew on the used gestures to talk about the science content. In some situations, the meaning of the gestures needed to be negotiated. Regardless, the gestures were always related to language. Both students and teachers participated in this process, but the teachers directed the communication towards the goal of the lessons: learning how to talk science. The study contributes to the field by showing the importance of paying attention to and valuing bilingual students’ use of gestures as a way to express scientific knowledge. In addition, it demonstrates how teachers might draw on students’ gestures to teach science and discusses the importance of creating multimodal learning environments. 

In this study, we examine how bilingual students in elementary school use their languages and what this means for their meaning-making in science. The class was multilingual with students bilingual in different minority languages and the teacher monolingual in Swedish. The analysis is based on a pragmatic approach and the theory of translanguaging. The science content was electricity, and the teaching involved class instruction and hands-on activities in small groups. The findings of the study are divided into two categories, ‘students’ conversations with the teacher’ and ‘student’s conversations with each other’. Since the class was multilingual, the class instruction was carried out in Swedish. Generally, when the conversations were characterised by an initiation, response and evaluation pattern, the students made meaning of the activities without any language limitations. However, when the students, during whole class instruction, were engaged in conversations where they had to argue, discuss and explain their ideas, their language repertoire in Swedish limited their possibilities to express themselves. During hands-on activities, students with the same minority language worked together and used both of their languages as resources. In some situations, the activities proceeded without any visible language limitations. In other situations, students’ language repertoire limited their possibilities to make meaning of the activities despite being able to use both their languages. What the results mean for designing and conducting science lessons in a multilingual class is discussed. 

In this article we examine how bilingual students construe relations between everyday language and the language of science. Studies concerning bilingual students language use in science class have mainly been conducted in settings where both the teacher and the students speak the same minority language. In this study data was collected in a class consisting of students aged 13–14. All students had Turkish as their minority language, whereas the teacher’s minority language was Bosnian. The class was observed when they were working with acids and bases. In addition, the students were interviewed in groups.They were asked about how they use their languages during science lessons and then asked to describe and explain scientific phenomena and processes that had been a part of the observed lessons. For the analysis, practical epistemology analysis and the theory of translanguaging were used. The results show how the students’ everyday language repertoire may limit their possibilities to make meaning of science. In particular, the teacher’s practice of facilitating and supporting students’ understanding of science content by relating it to concrete examples took another direction since the everyday words he used were not a part of the students’ language repertoire. The study also shows how the students used their minority language as a resource to translate words from Swedish to Turkish in order to proceed with the science activities. However, translating scientific concepts was problematic and led to the students’ descriptions of the concepts not being in line with how they are viewed in science. Finally, the study also demonstrates how monolingual exams may limit bilingual students’ achievements in science. The study contributes by presenting and discussing circumstances that need to be taken into consideration when planning and conducting science lessons in classes where the teacher and the student do not share the same minority language. 

I denna artikel undersöker vi hur tvåspråkiga elever skapar relationer mellan vardagsspråket och det naturvetenskapliga språket. Studier som behandlar hur tvåspråkiga elever använder sina språk under naturvetenskapslektionerna har huvudsakligen bedrivits i tvåspråkiga klassrum där bådee läraren och eleverna talar samma minoritetsspråk. I denna studie har data har samlats in i en klass bestående av 13-14 år gamla elever. Samtliga elever hade turkiska som minoritetsspråk medan lärarens minoritetsspråk var bosniska. Klassen observerades när de arbetade med syror och baser. Därrefter genomfördes gruppintervjuer med eleverna där de fick berätta om hur de använde sina språk under naturvetenskapslektionerna samt beskriva och förklara naturvetenskapliga fenomen och processer som hade behandlats under de observerade lektionerna. Materialet analyserades genom praktisk epistemologisk analys och teorin om translanguaging (the theory of translanguaging). Studien visar hur lärarens strävan att stödja elevernas lärande i naturvetenskap genom att använda ett vardagligt språk och vardagliga exempel tog en annan riktning eftersom de vardagsord han använde inte var en del av elevernas språkrepertoar. Studien visar också hur eleverna använde sitt minoritetsspråk som en resursför att översätta ord från svenska till turkiska. Att översätta naturvetenskapliga begrepp var mer problematiskt och ledde till att elevernas beskrivningar av begreppen inte var i linje med hur de betraktas inom naturvetenskapen. Slutligen visar studien även hur enspråkiga prov kan begränsa tvåspråkiga elevers resultat i de naturvetenskapliga ämnena. Undersökningen bidrar genom att presentera och diskutera omständigheter som behövs tas i beaktande när man planerar och genomför naturvetenskapliga lektioner i klasser därr lärare och elever inte delar samma minoritetsspråk.